What is the difference between Fragile X Syndrome & Auti

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AlexWelshman
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23 Jun 2011, 3:22 pm

I'm just interested in this. What is the difference between Fragile X Syndrome & Autism? They seem the same to me. Any help would be apriceated thanks.



styphon
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23 Jun 2011, 8:45 pm

A very large difference. But you may be confused because the vast majority of people with Fragile X have autism, while in autism, very few have fragile X.

Fragile X is a syndrome that can be directly connected to a genetic defect in the X chromosome. Not only is autism very common in this group but there is also physical findings (and there is none in autism without fragile X)--huge balls, large ears, arched palate.

You can also diagnose fragile X with an available genetic test, as it is one type of specific error that creates this disorder. Of course, the same is not true for autism


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Joe90
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24 Jun 2011, 9:11 am

I've found loads of threads on WP talking about Aspies having a variety of physical features too. Personally I know that people with AS don't, because I've always thought it was just Down's Syndrome and Fragile-X what have the physical features, and the physical features for Autism sound made-up and random.


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AlexWelshman
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24 Jun 2011, 9:27 am

Joe90 wrote:
I've found loads of threads on WP talking about Aspies having a variety of physical features too. Personally I know that people with AS don't, because I've always thought it was just Down's Syndrome and Fragile-X what have the physical features, and the physical features for Autism sound made-up and random.
Actually, some people with autism do have phisical odd phisical features too, but it's rare & it's usually with severe autism.



AlexWelshman
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24 Jun 2011, 9:32 am

styphon wrote:
A very large difference. But you may be confused because the vast majority of people with Fragile X have autism, while in autism, very few have fragile X.

Fragile X is a syndrome that can be directly connected to a genetic defect in the X chromosome. Not only is autism very common in this group but there is also physical findings (and there is none in autism without fragile X)--huge balls, large ears, arched palate.

You can also diagnose fragile X with an available genetic test, as it is one type of specific error that creates this disorder. Of course, the same is not true for autism
So are the people with Fragile X that don't have autism, quite different? And just show the severe Learning Disabilities & not the autistic features? Also, can you get people with high functioning Fragile X like you can with autism? Most of the information that deals with Fragile X seems to deal with the low Functioning people.



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24 Jun 2011, 12:20 pm

I'm not very knowledgeable about fragile x syndrome, so don't take this to be the 100% gospel truth about it... I believe it affects most sufferers in similar ways, but there are several ways it can manifest itself. Some have autism, some severe LD, some have all the physical features but others don't. Girls don't tend to get the condition as severely as boys possibly because the damage is to the x chromosome which girls have 2 of, whereas boys only have one. This would make sense therefore, that a girl with one damaged x chromosome and one regular one, would possibly not be as severely affected. It's a fascinating condition I'll give you that :)


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Ettina
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24 Jun 2011, 7:11 pm

Well, Fragile X Syndrome comes with a distinct behavioral phenotype, that is similar but not the same as autism. Add in individual variability, and you get many of them being autistic.

Just off the top of my head, Fragile X behavior includes:

* hand-flapping
* high social anxiety
* sociability (this plus social anxiety causes a bunch of approach/avoid behaviors)
* sensory sensitivities, especially avoiding eye contact
* better self-care skills than cognitive skills

I'm sure there's other stuff I forgot, but you get my point. A lot of that sounds like autism, but some of it doesn't, and when they do meet criteria for autism they often have a certain 'flavour' of autism.

Regarding physical differences - there are many genetic syndromes that can cause autism, and most of those come with physical characteristics as well. Fragile X Syndrome is one of them, others are 15q11-q12 duplication, RSH Syndrome, Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, CHARGE Syndome, the list is very long (there are more chromosomes that have been linked to autism than chromosomes that haven't). And the majority of autistics have no identified underlying syndrome, and they could have any appearance.



gailryder17
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24 Jun 2011, 7:21 pm

Jellybean wrote:
I'm not very knowledgeable about fragile x syndrome, so don't take this to be the 100% gospel truth about it... I believe it affects most sufferers in similar ways, but there are several ways it can manifest itself. Some have autism, some severe LD, some have all the physical features but others don't. Girls don't tend to get the condition as severely as boys possibly because the damage is to the x chromosome which girls have 2 of, whereas boys only have one. This would make sense therefore, that a girl with one damaged x chromosome and one regular one, would possibly not be as severely affected. It's a fascinating condition I'll give you that :)


When you're a girl, you're either
a) not a carrier
b) a carrier, but not afflicted (one fragile x, one regular x. With any Sex-linked trait, a good x chromosome cancels out the bad one, so you can't tell if the person is indeed a carrier)
c) an afflicted carrier (two crappy X chromosomes.

When you're a boy, you're either
a) an afflicted carrier (Fragile X and Regular Y chromosome)
b) not a carrier (good XY's)

That's what I learned last year in Science.


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25 Jun 2011, 12:22 am

Hmm I have never even heard of that..... and this is not really related but I know I have some weird genetic variation, I really know nothing about it and neither do any of the doctors who tried figuring it out basically the only concrete thing they have figured out is that they have no idea even after lots of blood tests, other tests and even taking a small peice of my leg musle to study. but I have been kind of curious as to whether odd things like that are common with aspergers.



styphon
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25 Jun 2011, 2:47 pm

To compare it to...."Ricers", like the cars/people from fast and furious.

Almost all "ricers" drive japanese cars, but yet very few people who drive japanese cars are ricers.


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